Category Archives: Art & Photography

It’s no secret I’m obsessed with white, gold and grey. There’s something so pure and soothing about a cool, neutral palette. Everything looks good on it or against it, and you can have fun mixing different tones and textures. Thanks to 13 years of living in New York City, and an abundance of overseas work travel, I’ve developed an eclectic but minimalist design aesthetic, and apply it to even the most functional items.

My workspace is no exception, and being tucked behind my couch, I wanted it to feel calm, cozy and creative. These are a few of the small indulgences that make doing work from home so much more inviting.

This morning I dropped by Left Bank Books in the West Village and came across a beautiful little book by Wim Wenders called “Places, Strange and Quiet.” I love Wenders’ work and with a title that spoke to my heart, I had to have it.

In the book, Wenders captures forty-four places that are melancholy and silent, yet charged with possibility. Time capsules, as he calls them. Number 9 and 10 are of a ferris wheel in Armenia from 2008. The first portrays a cloudy, calm landscape that is nostalgic and isolated. The second, from the opposite angle is sinister and exposed. Alongside the fold-out photograph is a brief passage:

I took this photo over a year ago, and it’s still one of my favorites. I didn’t really know how to use my camera back then, and I’m pretty sure it’s not in focus, but there’s just something about the rain that makes one feel infinite.

Last week I came home from pilates just as a snow storm was setting in. Famished and tired, I bolted upstairs, inhaled an apple and some of my favorite cheese for dinner, and headed out back to capture the falling flakes.

I’m still learning my way around the 6D, but as any photographer knows, everything is new again with a new camera. And there’s something magical about watching the snow swallow the grid of the city. Here are a few of my favorite snaps from the night.

Don’t shoot what it looks like. Shoot what it feels like. – David Alan Harvey

If You Can Make it Here / Photo by Meagan Kirkpatrick (July 2011)

A few months ago, after shooting almost 50,000 photos on my T2i, I decided it was time to upgrade. Reticent at first, I eventually caved when a friend of mine (who taught me most of what I know about photography), sent me a text saying my “night shots could really use a full frame sensor.”

That was the final straw. I will forever be a nighttime photographer, and my Rebel T2i was like the little red caboose that couldn’t quite get up the hill.

I put my cherished and reliable friend up for sale on Facebook and with seconds of clicking “post,” it was gone.

I’ve always appreciated art. My brother’s an incredibly talented illustrator, and I spent almost three years working with Vimeo, where I watched films every day and attended offline screenings regularly. I was profoundly affected by the ability of motion pictures to move people, as redundant as that sounds. They can make you laugh, cry, cringe, and most of all: think.

But since coming to Shutterstock two years ago, spending countless hours among 24 million images, and then going home to my own DSLR, I’ve developed a deep appreciation for the still image.